1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to vehicle security, and more particularly, to a system for securing a key in a vehicle for use at an automobile dealership.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Automobile dealerships typically have tens or hundreds of vehicles in inventory at any given time. Vehicles within the inventory are constantly being test driven by potential customers or relocated by dealership staff. In order to have a vehicle test driven or moved to another location at the dealership, a salesperson or another employee of the dealership must have access to the key for the vehicle they desire to move. This is typically accomplished by storing a set of keys in a secure location at the dealership. This, however, can be somewhat cumbersome, in that time is consumed when searching for the vehicle's key and logging the removal or return of the key. In addition, this process can lead to keys being misplaced or lost thus creating further time-consuming obstacles.
It is understood that a vehicle's key can simply be placed in the vehicle and then the vehicle can be locked using its pre-loaded security system. Although this may seem convenient, the failure to lock the vehicle after use, with an un-secured key therein is a vulnerability of such a system. This may occur, for example, when a shared controller for use with a pre-loaded security system accidentally disarms a vehicle's pre-loaded security system. Thus, a thief may gain unabated access to the vehicle. In addition, the knowledge that vehicles are in a dealership lot with unsecured keys therein may be too tempting for a potential thief to resist.
The shared controller, which is capable of controlling most of the pre-loaded security systems in a dealership lot, has yet another vulnerability in that it may be copied or stolen by a thief. Thus, enabling a thief with access to almost any vehicle on the dealership lot. Therefore, a need exists for a system for securing a key in a vehicle for use at an automobile dealership.